The Pendant
by reaper with no name
Summary: Re-L knows Vincent is making something. But what?


She knew Vincent was making something. That much had become obvious. What she didn't know was what or why.

Re-L had first begun to suspect something was amiss when she noticed that Vincent had begun spending a lot of time in the bathroom; much more than usual. When her curiosity finally got the better of her and she investigated, she discovered that there were power cables running under the door into it, and there were sounds of tools emanating from within. Soon after that, she began to spot Vincent sneaking small packages into and out of the bathroom whenever he did his "work".

Whenever Re-L confronted him about his project, his cheeks always became flush and he would respond with a vague answer like "N-nothing" or "It's not important". It frustrated Re-L to no end.

So, she had taken to listening at the door as he worked, hoping for some clues as to what he was doing. So far the only thing she had learned was that Vincent was very prone to hurting himself whenever he operated power tools. Speaking of which…

"Ow!" Vincent yelped from the other side of the door as he injured himself once again.

Re-L rolled her eyes. As she did, Re-L noticed a lavender-haired auto-reiv approaching her with an expression of curiosity on her face.

"Why is Re-L listening to the door?" Pino asked loudly. Re-L winced and put a finger to her lips to communicate to Pino that they needed to be quiet. Unfortunately, the sudden lack of noise emanating from the bathroom indicated that Vincent had heard. Re-L sighed and glared at Pino before standing and leaving.

When she reached the deck of the Rabbit, Re-L noticed that the little auto-reiv had followed her. Vincent was very open with her. Perhaps she would know what he was up to.

"Pino, do you know what Vincent is doing in there?"

"Nope!" the little girl shook her head enthusiastically as if it was something to be proud of. Then her expression softened. "Pino did offer to help, though, but Vince said that this was something Vince had to do himself."

"That doesn't help me," Re-L replied with exasperation. "Do you have any ideas as to what he might be doing?"

"Hmmm…" Pino thought hard for a moment, as if trying to think of something useful. "Oh, wait! Pino knows that whatever Vince is doing in the bathroom, it's really loud; even louder than when Re-L is in there and thinks no one is listening!" The little girl smiled at Re-L expectantly, as if expecting a prize for her observational skills.

Re-L's eyes widened for a moment, but then tightened into a glare. Sometimes, she could swear that girl knew more about "adult things" than she let on.

Re-L ventured back down into the depths of the Rabbit, and heard another loud cry of pain coming from the bathroom as she passed by it. She could swear, if that man wasn't a proxy, he would probably have killed himself ten times over by now.

Re-L was surprised by the door of the bathroom suddenly swinging open, nearly knocking her off her feet. Nevertheless, she found herself on the floor anyway when Vincent collided with her.

She mentally noted that this was the second time she had found him lying on top of her. She forced herself not to look him in the eye. One too many close calls had taught her not to do that when they were this close.

So instead, she focused on his cheeks. They were red.

Not surprising. Her gaze drifted downwards toward his lips. Bad idea. She might as well have stared at his eyes. Fuck. Now she was thinking of those. This was bad. She had to get out while she still could.

"Get. Off," she managed to force out, risking a look at his eyes. He seemed even more hypnotized than she was. This was not good.

Fortunately, her gamble seemed to pay off. He snapped out of his trance and rolled off of her. As he stood, he offered her his hand. She allowed him to help her up. Yet another mistake. She seemed to be making a lot of those lately. At this rate, she'd end up giving in to him. She couldn't let that happen. No, she would let him have her heart when she was ready, and not a moment before. It would happen on her terms.

She was still gripping his hand. Damn it. She let him go and tried to change the subject. "Vincent, what was that about?!"

Vincent knelt down and picked up the small box he had been carrying when they collided. "Sorry…I was just really excited."

This piqued her interest. "About what?"

"Well…I finished what I was making."

"Oh." She wanted to ask him what it was. She wanted to ask him to see it. But she could do that later. Right now, she needed to get out. She turned and headed for the deck.

"Re-L, wait," he pleaded. Her stride slowed for a moment, but then she caught herself and continued as before. She needed a few minutes of Vincent-free air. Then maybe she could go back to the mystery of Vincent's project.

A few minutes turned into almost an hour. She couldn't figure out how she should approach him with her question. She didn't want to seem too interested in what he had been doing all this time, but then again, he probably already knew thanks to Pino. Of course, this was Vincent, so it was possible he was still clueless. And if that was the case, well, she had to throw him some kind of bone. Just because she wasn't ready for him just yet didn't change the fact that she still wanted him. And that meant that she had to keep him interested.

Damn it. Why couldn't these things be simple?

Despite her thoughts, her ears picked up the sounds of footsteps as someone joined her on the deck. It was most likely Vincent. Her suspicions were confirmed when he stopped next to her.

"Re-L, could you do me a favor?"

"Maybe."

"Close your eyes."

"Why?" If he was thinking she would let him kiss her so easily, he had another thing coming.

"Just trust me."

Damnit. Why did his eyes have to be such a beautiful shade of green? Oh, well. If he tried to kiss her she could just say she wasn't expecting it. Yes, that would be the perfect excuse. She would act surprised and tell him not to try it again, but be just confusing enough with her reaction to leave him with hope.

Her eyes fell closed, but to her surprise, she felt something being placed over her head to rest around her neck. She opened her eyes and looked down. To her surprise she found a pendant. One that looked just like the one Vincent always wore. Well, it wasn't a perfect duplicate, but it was pretty close. The main difference was that instead of a roman numeral, it had a letter: E. E for Ergo?

"Vincent…What is this?"

"Before we got to Romdeau, you asked me if I would give you Monad's pendant. But I couldn't, because it wasn't mine to give. But this pendant…It is mine. And so, I give it to you."

Damnit. He had won after all. Why did he have to be so…What was the word? Sweet? Courteous? Kind? Ugh. It wasn't supposed to happen yet.

"Damn you, Vincent."

"Huh?" His expression said that he hadn't been expecting her to look as frustrated as she did. No matter. She'd explain it to him soon enough. Once she was finished kissing him senseless.

Of course, as she quickly discovered a few seconds later, that could take a while. No matter. She could wait.


End file.
